Takraw Canada

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

APRIL 2001 – MARCH 2002

Inside this Issue:

1 Takraw Joins COA – ON P.E. Teachers Discover Takraw Fun – SK, AB

2 Provincials – SK Mosaic – SK

2 JHS Takraw League – ON Nat. Aboriginal Day – SK

3 Canada Day - SK, MB Hmong Festival - St. Paul Summer Takraw - Regina

4 2001 Canadian Open –AB Over 400 Canadian Schools playing Takraw

5 Cancellations Due to 9/11 Takraw at Fall PE Conf. – ON, MB, BC

5 New STAC Board Member Can. vs. USA Televised Takraw Match – SK

6 Canada Hosts/Plays Thai Takraw Teams from Udon Thani University – BC

7 Takraw Medical Research TAKRAW RULES UPDATED – Thai., Feb/02

8 “Closer to the Olympics” FREE TAKRAW STUFF STAC Members’ Benefits

TAKRAW JOINS OLYMPIC FAMILY

IN CANADA Toronto, April 20 – 22, 2001

A tremendous milestone was achieved on December 3, 2000, when the Canadian Olympic Association (COA), in their Board of Directors meeting, approved and recognized the Sepak Takraw Association of Canada (STAC) to become a Class E member with the COA. As such, STAC is entitled to attend COA Congresses and have one vote at meetings of members. The first such Congress for STAC was in Toronto, April 20-22, 2001, and the board thought it would be very important for Rick Engel, president of STAC, to attend.

“What an exciting time it was to be with so many former and present Olympians, and to be welcomed into the Olympic family there by Michael Chambers, the new President of the COA! This is one of many milestones yet to come in order to see Sepak Takraw become an Olympic event one day. We did good”, said Engel.

On the same trip, Engel was also able to meet the Toronto area Takraw players from the Laotian community, and link them up with David Carnaffan, a teacher whose aim is to get the sport going in the schools there.

SK & AB Teachers Take up Takraw

Saskatoon/Edmonton, May 3 & 4, ’01 Presenting Sepak Takraw as a viable sport/recreational activity to introduce into one’s school/community has become an annual, very popular,

part of the SPEA Conference in Saskatoon, SK. This year, on May 3, it was no different. Members of the Saskatoon Lighting Takraw Club had to present two sessions, to accommodate all the teachers who wanted to take the introductory clinic, which was about 60 altogether.

“It was great, the teachers are really interested in this sport, the only problem was when the power went out at the university during the first session and it became dark in the gym”, said Guy Phiaxay, leader of the group.

Teachers at the U of A trying Takraw

One province over, on May 3 & 4 at the U. of Alberta in Edmonton, Rick Engel, from Regina, and Brydon Blacklaws, from White Rock, joined forces to display Takraw and conduct a 1-hour clinic for P.E. teachers at the annual HPEC conference (which moves around the province each year). Local Edmonton players from the Laotian community also came to give a short game demonstration during the clinic. With about 30 participants in one session, and talking to lots of teachers at the display, it was also very worth while. Many teachers indicated that they will now be including Takraw in their P.E. program. “It’s so cool to see Phys. Ed. teachers really enjoying Takraw, I think a lot of them were quite surprised to find that it is so much fun, and that they could play it as well as they did”, said Blacklaws at the end of the clinic.

Takraw Canada

Kick Volleyball Events & News Bulletin

YWCA Bldg., 1940 McIntyre St. Regina, SK S4P 2R3 Canada

Phone/Fax: (306) 584-8778

Email: stac@takrawcanada.com Web Site: www.takrawcanada.com

April 2001 – March 2002

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Provincials – SK Regina, May 19, 2001 Four teams from Regina and Saskatoon took advantage of warm spring conditions and had a provincial championship tournament outdoors for the first time. The event took place on the lawn right in front of the Legislature Building where a lot of passers-by and visitors to the Leg. were also able to take in some great games of Takraw.

Net action in front of the SK Legislature

It came down to a tiebreak

battle between Saskatoon Lightning and the Regina Riot. Spectators, including a group from Estevan, looked on with delight at the close match of some nice spiking/blocking and back and forth rallies. At last, Saskatoon Lightning took Gold, Regina Riot settled for Silver, and a combined Regina-Saskatoon team was awarded the Bronze.

Saskatoon Lightning take home Gold

Takraw Demos at Regina’s Mosaic

Regina, SK, May 30 – June 2, 2001 Every year surrounding the

first weekend in June, Regina showcases it’s multicultural heritages with food, song and dance for three days in venues all over the city. This year ASEC International added a new feature to Mosaic … Sepak Takraw, in the Philippine Pavilion. In the Philippines, a variation of the Sepak Takraw, the net game, is played with a group of players standing in a circle kicking an object that has feathers coming out of the top. This variation is called “Sepa” and is the national sport in the Philippines. So ASEC and the Philippine Pavilion Committee thought it would be perfectly fitting to set up a Takraw Display Booth, conduct demonstrations and let the public give it a try between the song and dance shows. With the Philippine Pavilion being one of the highest attended ones of Mosaic, exposure for the sport was fabulous, literally hundreds of people were able to try it!

JHS Takraw League in Toronto Area

Woodbridge, ON, May/June, 2001 David Carnaffan, a teacher in Woodbridge, ON, was previously very involved in football. In fact Carnaffan originally had his sights on a CFL football career as a kicker, but due to circumstances that came up during the training camps, he was not able to get on with the Toronto Argonauts or the Ottawa Roughriders (Renegades) where he tried out. Now Carnaffan sees Takraw as a sport in which he can still use his kicking abilities, have fun and stay in shape (especially in the winter) all at the same time. His challenge is to get together a big enough group of other interested adults who will play regularly so that they can have good games every week.

In the mean time, Carnaffan has introduced Takraw to his students and to other teachers in the York Catholic School Division where he teaches. The other teachers introduced it to their students and they all loved it! So the natural next step was to organise a small league so that the six schools could play scheduled games against each other and end with a big tournament. Well that is exactly what Carnaffan did, and he was pleased with the interest and support for the program that was shown by the school administrators, other teachers, students and parents. In all, it has been very successful.

Carnaffan coaching his JHS team

National Aboriginal Day Demos

Regina, SK, June 22, 2001 Thousands of Regina & out of

town residents, and hundreds students from schools on field trips, converged on Wascana Park on a very hot day to take in entertainment and activities planned for National Aboriginal Day. Among the activities was Sepak Takraw demonstration and participation events. This was extremely popular with mostly the younger crowd of course, as 3 Takraw courts were kept busy with participants trying the game all day long from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It all proved to be a great first big outdoor event for the local Regina Takraw Club for this year.

Takraw Canada

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3

Canada Day Saskatoon/Regina/Winnipeg, July 1, 2001 July 1 is always a festival day and celebrated in various ways across the country. This year, Saskatoon’s celebrations at Diefenbaker Park had an extra bit of uniqueness added when the Saskatoon Lightning Takraw Club hosted a Takraw tournament as a way to demonstrate the sport. Two nets were set up and were kept busy until mid afternoon when it ended with Saskatoon A defeating Saskatoon B in the final. A team from Edmonton took third place. Other teams came from Regina and White Rock, BC. There happened to be four busloads of Youth Directors from Christian Church Youth Groups at the event from all across Canada. They absolutely loved what they saw, and when the tournament was done they basically took over the nets, trying it out themselves. You guessed it … Takraw is now on their list of activities to do with their youth groups! Finals, Saskatoon A spikes the ball Youth Directors giving Takraw a try

At the same time, in Regina a summer student and some of the members of the local club there put up two nets and let people just drop in and try Takraw in Wascana Park. Winnipeg Takraw players put on a July 1 tournament that included teams from USA and were featured in a local news broadcast.

Hmong Festival St. Paul, MN, USA St. Paul, MN, July 6-7, 2001

Very soon after the July 1 holiday, a men’s team from Regina and a junior boy’s team from White Rock, BC, headed down to St. Paul, MN, USA to participate in the annual Hmong Festival Takraw Tournament. We apologize for previously calling this a “Lao Festival”. The Hmong people form a very large community in Minneapolis-St. Paul. They originally came to the USA from the mountains in Laos, many of them via Thai refugee camps.

Now that’s Takraw! Two USA teams show how it’s done!

There were the usual 40,000 people (mostly Hmong American) gathered in a huge open field area for two days to watch or play soccer, volleyball and Takraw. Of course there were also about 70 food booths selling sticky rice, papaya salad (the real, real HOT stuff) and barbecued chicken, along with hundreds of retails booths selling clothing, music tapes, videos, jewellery and all kinds of artefacts from Laos and Thailand. It’s like being in Asia! The junior boy’s team from White Rock, BC, were the first to play against a US youth team. It was an exhibition match to show how to play by the new rally point scoring system. In a close match that went to the tiebreak, Canada’s boys won it with an ‘ace serve’ by Brydon, now seen as one of Brydon’s cherished moments in the sport! It actually ended up being the only game won by either the boy’s or the men’s teams. Canada’s players (kneeling) with USA

Summer Tak - SK Regina, June-August, 2001

ASEC International was able to hire a university student for the summer to run a Takraw program in Regina and help out in the office by entering information into their database. The Centennial Student Employment Program made the program possible, and as a result about 800 participants were involved in Takraw over the 3-month period, meeting every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. They also were at the city’s special events. Other groups or Takraw clubs can be encouraged to apply for similar funding for similar projects.

April 2001 – March 2002

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2001 Canadian Open Sepak Takraw Championships

BC Junior Boys vs. Japan Girls Winnipeg Men vs. Edmonton Exile

USA vs. Japan, Men’s Division

Japan Men, Overall Silver; Japan ladies, Overall Gold

Edmonton, AB, August 4 – 6, 2001

This year’s Canadian Open was a feature event of Edmonton’s Heritage Festival and took place in the middle of beautiful Hawrelak Park, surrounded by 52 ethnic pavilions displaying their cultures through music, song, dance, food, drinks and artefacts to over 350,000 people. Four Takraw courts were set up below a small hill that acted as natural bleachers from which spectators could enjoy watching the high flying action. Three of the four courts were fenced off for the tournament and scheduled exhibition matches that took place, while the fourth court was set up outside the fenced area for spectators and passers by to try Takraw out on. There was a time in the three days that the public court was not busy with people having fun playing Takraw, most of them for the very first time!

Altogether 51 athletes, representing 14 teams, came to compete in this event from Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg in Canada; and special thanks/recognition must go out to the teams from USA and especially Japan, international guests who came from very far to compete. There were 9 teams in the Men's division, 3 in the Junior Boys division and 2 in the Ladies division. Though receiving separate medals, the ladies and boys teams played together in the same pool in a round robin format. It was the Men’s matches between USA and Japan that drew the most attention, playing three matches against each other, all of them going to a Tiebreak, with USA winning two out of the three. Their skill levels were far above any single Canadian team present. It's estimated that spectators numbered well over 10,000 people over 3 days, just for the Takraw Event!

In the Men's division, USA was the overall tournament winner, with Japan coming in a close 2nd. Out of the Canadian teams who were also competing for this year's national title, LCCSE 1 (Lao Community Cultural Society of Edmonton) took Gold, Saskatoon Lightning grabbed Silver, while Winnipeg 1 secured the Bronze. For the Junior Boys, it was the BC Sockeyes who dominated and took Gold, the Winnipeg Lao Boys showed great improvement over last year and won Silver, while Regina's TKO picked up an automatic Bronze. It was Japan who won Gold in the Ladies division, the difference being experience, much superior ball control, as well as a better understanding of team strategy in the game. Regina's Kicking Kangaroos picked up the automatic Silver.

A tremendous thanks goes out to the Edmonton Heritage Festival Association who provided all that was needed on site for a successful tournament, as well as 11 sponsors who provided transportation, food, equipment, prizes, graphic design and printing for the 2001 COSTCH event. They were: Engelheim Charter, Country Style Donuts, McDonalds, Sparrow Signs & Printing Centre, Concept Media, KJ Millar Productions, ASEC International, Reflections Canada, Lacopa Sports, Northern Images Gallery and Richlil Enterprises. Then of course there were the 22 registered volunteers, besides many of the players themselves who pitched in to fulfil the roles needed to ensure all was looked after, including families of the Edmonton players who billeted out-of-town athletes and volunteers in their homes.

Takraw Growth in Canadian Schools 2001/2002

It is estimated that there are just under 200 experienced Takraw players in various associations, clubs and leagues in 6 provinces across Canada, namely, from west to east, BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC. Added to this are 130 new players who have purchased balls to practice with.

In addition, to date now over 400 schools have introduced Sepak Takraw to their students, most of them with the help of the Canadian-produced Promotional Instructional Video called SEPAK TAKRAW - Just For Kicks, and Instructional Materials being developed by ASEC International. Schools love the video and highly recommend it as a great teaching tool, as most teachers have to learn the game themselves before they can teach it. With an average of 50 students per school being the ones exposed to the sport, roughly 20,000 students from across Canada are now playing Sepaktakraw at one level or another!

Takraw Canada

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cancellations Due to 9/11

On September 11, 2001, USA experienced a series of terrorist attacks that proved to change the world over night. Among the many immediate changes that occurred were many cancellations of international events all over the world. The King’s Cup Sepaktakraw World Championships, scheduled for November, 2001, in Bangkok, Thailand also fell victim the flood of cancellations. Thus Canada did not compete in an International Takraw tournament in 2001. Let’s hope and pray that the world will become a more normal place soon, with people of all nations learning to live together in harmony.

Takraw at Fall PE Teachers’ Conferences – ON, MB, BC

Orillia/Winnipeg/New Westminster, Oct. 13 & 19, 2001 On October 13, Dave Carnaffan, the teacher from Woodbridge who got Takraw going in his school division, conducted a Sepak Takraw Clinic at the OPHEA Conference, which is held annually in Orillia, ON each fall. About 20 PE teachers and recreation directors participated with keen interest in the new sport, that made its first appearance at the conference. Only the rainy weather hindered Carnaffan from doing more demonstration and participation activities outside during the conference. The very next weekend a province away, Rick Engel and the Houngmany brothers, Sila, Sati & Pani, displayed Takraw and conducted a 2-hour clinic for PE teachers that had converged in Winnipeg from all over Manitoba. About 20 participants there were also very enthusiastic about the sport, and about plans for introducing it into their schools. On the same day in New Westminster, BC, Brydon Blacklaws, his brother Jake and friend, Travis Lemere, joined forces to conduct a Takraw Clinic for PE Teachers and Consultants that had come to the lower mainland from across BC. Close to 30 people participated in that session, making about 70 altogether the number of people that learned how to play and teach Takraw this fall. The STAC office is very grateful to have enthusiastic people like those mentioned above that are happy to be able to help teach what they know about Takraw to others so that the sport can have opportunity to grow.

New STAC Board Member

With the resignations of Andre Paul earlier in the year, and Perry Senko this fall, came a new face to the board of Directors of STAC, representing SK. She is Tara Kahan, a student at the U of R who has also become one of the most dedicated female players around. Though Andre and Perry will be missed, Tara is certainly warmly welcomed!

Can. Vs. USA, First Televised Takraw Match in N. America

Regina, SK, November 17, 2001 STAC united efforts with Asian Sport, Education & Culture (ASEC) International to bring some of North America's best Takraw players to Regina. The feature matches commenced after the completion of a local Takraw tournament and skills contest for 12 & under kids – who did amazingly well, and showed that anybody can play Tarkaw.

To make the first match of the 3-match series between Canada and USA more interesting – which was filmed and later televised by Access Communications – Pheng Vang of the USA team put on a Canadian Jersey and was the Killer (Spiker). He joined Brydon Blacklaws, the Server from White Rock BC, and Rick Engel, the Setter/Blocker from Regina. On the other side of the net, Invan Senthavong of Regina put on a USA Jersey, joining Ti Vong, the Server/Setter and Lui, the Killer/Blocker.

It was a back and forth battle all the way. Canada's strength was in the powerful serving abilities of Brydon, along with the team work shown in their game strategy of having a designated "Setter" (Rick) moving in whenever possible to set up the 2'nd ball contact for the Killer (Pheng). USA's strength was by far the deadly spiking ability of Lui. Because of the shear speed and downward angle of the spiked ball (from up to a 7 ½-foot contact point), if Rick did not block the spike at the net, it was almost impossible for the other two players to pick it up. In the end, however, it was the more consistent, powerful serving and game strategy of Canada that prevailed, as they won the first match in two straight sets, 21-15 and 21-18.

Then Invan and Pheng traded back to play with their respective countries. The 2nd match final scores were 21-14, 21-14 for the USA and the 3rd match ended up being the nail biter that everyone afterwards agreed should have been the one that was filmed, going into a tiebreak with final scores of 21-15, 19-21, and 15-12 for the USA.

A tremendous "Thank you" goes out to Pheng, Ti and Lui for driving about 13 hours from St. Paul, MN to participate in this event … what a great bunch of guys they are! They also made a lot of kids happy as they, and members of Team Canada, signed autographs.

The Canada & USA players pose after the 3-match series

April 2001 – March 2002

6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Exhibition Matches in BC with Teams from Thailand

Lower Mainland, BC, March 19-28, 2002 Two men’s Takraw teams and one women’s team came from Udon Thani University, located in North Eastern Thailand, to play a series of Sepak Takraw Exhibition Matches between themselves and against Canada in several universities, colleges, junior high schools and high schools throughout the lower mainland just before Easter. It all came about when Andra Thakur, a anthropologist professor at Malaspina College-University in Nanaimo, took a group of students to Thailand for a field trip and encountered the sport there. Then back in Canada, Andra came into contact with local BC Takraw enthusiasts and also the STAC office, who all helped to organize the series of Takraw events.

The 2-week tour included a few days in Nanaimo at Malaspina, then into Vancouver for events at Langara College and Douglas College, out to White Rock and Surrey for events in 4 different schools and lastly, the furthest out event took place in a school in Hope. It was a tremendous experience not only for the Thai players, but also for Rick Engel, Brydon Blacklaws and Travis Lemere, the Canadian players who played with and against the Thais. Blacklaws commented that it was like a 2-week training camp for them, a great opportunity to play with such skilled players!

While in the Hope area, the teams were all treated to a bit of sightseeing along the Fraser River, hosted and guided by Rick Blacklaws, Brydon’s father. The Thai players were fascinated by the snow and ice, almost all of them experiencing that for the first time … along with the “cold” 10o C. temperatures (at the same time, it was –30o C. in Saskatchewan, which they could not even begin to imagine how cold that would be). Now upon their extended invitation, it is hoped that the next trip to Asia with a Canadian Takraw team will include short side-trip to Udon Thani.

Canada vs. Thailand, Malaspina College-University, Nanaimo

The Thai players enjoying their first barbeque in Canada

One of several Takraw Clinics conducted

Two Men’s and one Women’s takraw teams from Udon Thani University, Thailand Exchange of gifts at Douglas College

Takraw Canada

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Medical Research Results on Elite Sepak Takraw Athletes

Have you ever wondered what kind of shape elite

Sepak Takraw athletes need to be in to excel at their sport? How the repeated jumping and landing, or the sporadic scrambling for the ball, or constant stretching and kicking with the serving leg, affect the body physiologically?

Singaporean R. Aziz, B.C. Tan & K.C. Teh conducted some research on their country's national sepaktakraw players during the 5th International Olympic Committee World Congress on Sport Sciences (with the Annual Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport 1999). The National Sport Information Centre, Australian Sports Commission – with Sports Medicine Australia – wrote an article about the study. The following is a paraphrase with additional explanations by the Sepak Takraw Association of Canada (STAC). The study attempts to gain some insights into the physical demands of playing the sport of Sepak Takraw and provide a physiological profile of elite Sepak Takraw players. The temporal characteristics (i.e. duration of rally and recovery, set and match) of seven matches in a local league were analysed, while physiological responses of players from Singapore's National squad were measured (i.e. heart rate, or HR, throughout the match and capillary blood lactate levels at the end of each set). We must first understand some technical details of Sepak Takraw to understand the data presented here. A “match” is when two “regus” (opposing teams) play two back to back sets to a maximum of 25 points, and a third “Tiebreak” set, only if required, to a maximum of 17 points. A “rally” is the action that takes place from the instant the ball is tossed by a Forward Player to his/her Tekong (Server) to the instant a foul by either regu ends play. In the study, match duration out of the 7 matches ranged from 20.7 minutes (obviously one regu winning two consecutive sets) to 50.8 minutes (where it is certain the match had to be decided by a Tiebreaker Set after each regu won one set each). The overall average “rally” time was 5.5 seconds. The overall average recovery time between rallies (from the instant a foul ends one rally to the instant the toss of the ball begins the next rally) was 9.8 seconds. Further, it was found that overall 73% of the “rallies” lasted less than 6 seconds and players were active for only 26.7% of the time during the match. It was also found that, on average, a player’s mean HR sustained throughout the match was 150 beats per minute. Blood lactate levels were generally low (1.6 - 4.3 mMol·L-1). Given the above data, and looking at studies on other sports, Sepak Takraw is an “Intermittent Sport”.

Sepak Takraw players representing Singapore in international competitions within the last two years were assessed for height, weight, sum of skin folds, aerobic power (VO2max), anaerobic peak power and capacity (work done during 10 and 30 seconds all-out cycling) and lower limb explosiveness (vertical jump). When players of the 3 different court positions during a match (i.e. spiker, setter/blocker and server) were compared, there were no significant differences in any of the physical characteristics and physiological attributes of the players, except for height. Relative to athletes from other “Intermittent Sports”, the average Sepak Takraw athlete possessed excellent jumping power and anaerobic capability for short duration (less than 10 seconds), but had comparatively lower aerobic fitness. The fitness attributes measured seem to agree well with the temporal characteristics and physiological responses observed during the matches in this study.

Scoring and Other Rules Updated in 2002

Bangkok, Thailand, Feb. 17, 2002 The International Sepaktakraw Federation held a Congress Meeting in Bangkok to make decisions on proposed amendments to the new rally point scoring system, as well as changes to other rules. Here are the main changes to be aware of: a.) Scoring System: The first two sets in a match are still up to 21 with a rally point scoring system, however, now a regu must win by 2 points up to a ceiling of 25.

The tiebreak set is still played to 15, but now a regu must also win by 2 points up to a ceiling of 17.

b.) Ball Rolling on Body: Till now if the ball rolled on any part of a player’s body, rather than making a clean bounce, it was considered a fault. Now the ball rolling on body will be okay and will be considered 1 hit or contact (unless the ball rolls on arm or hand, which is still a foul).

c.) Foot Touching/Crossing the Center Line: Previously if a player’s foot touched and/or crossed the center line under the net, it was an automatic foul. Now if the foot crosses over the line it is okay, as long as the foot did not contact/hurt an opposing player in any way.

d.) Server’s Foot Touching Serving Circle: Before, if a Server’s planted foot touched the Serving Circle in the course of the serve, it was considered a foul. Now if a Server’s foot touches/goes over the Serving Circle line it is okay, as long as the foot did not lift off the ground. e.) Reserve Players: Previously, each regu could only have ONE reserve player. Now each regu may have TWO reserve players on the roster, but still only ONE substitution per match.

April 2000 – March 2001

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Sepak Takraw Association of Canada YWCA Bldg., 1940 McIntyre Street Regina, SK S4P 2R3 Canada

Phone: (306) 584-8778 Fax: (306) 584-8778 Email: stac@takrawcanada.com Web Site: www.takrawcanada.com

MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM MEMBER BENEFITS:

• Receive the Takraw Canada News Bulletin • Receive a 3” red/white embroidered STAC crest • FREE STAC pin for recruiting 3 members • FREE Takraw ball for recruiting 6 members • FREE Takraw video for recruiting 9 members • FREE Takraw T-shirt for recruiting 12 members

(PLEASE PRINT NEATLY) 1. Name of Local Takraw Club/Association (if applicable): ______________________________________________

Club/Association Contact Person: ____________________________________ Phone: ( ) ________________ 2. Your First (Given) Name: _____________________________ Family Name: _____________________________ Street Address: ____________________________________________________ Box No. __________________ City/Town: _______________________________ Prov. __________________ Postal Code: ________________ Home Ph: ( ) _______________ Work Ph: ( ) ________________ Cell. Ph/Other: ( ) ________________ Fax ( ) ___________________ E-mail: _________________________________________________________ Birth Date (dd/mm/yy): ____ / ____ / ____ Age: ______ Gender: M / F 3. Annual (April 1 – March 31) Membership Fee of $20 Enclosed (check): ______ Yes (cheques payable to STAC) 4. Signature: __________________________________________ Date: ___________________________ 5. Recruited by: __________________________________________ of (city/town): __________________________

Closer to the Olympics The Sepak Takraw Association of Canada (STAC), whose head office is in Regina, just received confirmation of Class E Membership with the Canadian Olympic Association. What this means is that Sepak Takraw (Kick Volleyball) is a recognized sport by the COA and it is one step closer to becoming an official Olympic Sport. The International Sepak Takraw Federation (ISTAF) is working to bring the sport into the Olympic Games by 2008. This year the first professional Takraw league will get underway in Thailand, home of the world champions. The International Olympic Committee is already very impressed with Takraw and will be funding International Game Demonstrations in four European countries this year, namely Switzerland, Germany, Spain, and France. ISTAF’s major goal over the next 8 years is to bring 40 more countries into the sport, adding to the 20 sum countries that already play, including Canada. STAC is now also involved with USA, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Columbia and Argentina in establishing the Pan Am Sepaktakraw Federation. Argentina is hoping to host a Pan Am Takraw Championship this March, to which Canada would attend.

Though Sepak Takraw is just starting its third year in Canada, there are already many opportunities in which dedicated players may be involved. There are annual provincial (in Sask.) and National Championships for youth and adults, regular tournaments throughout the year across Canada and the USA, and regular world/ international events in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and now the PanAm region.

Regina Sun Community News, January 14, 2000

FREE Takraw StuffMembership Drive Kick off

To promote the awareness & growth of Sepaktakraw through membership, STAC is ‘kicking off’ a Membership Drive that will put FREE lapel pins, Takraw balls, videos & T-shirts into the hands of hundreds of individuals across Canada for recruiting members to STAC. It’s like this: FOR A FREE STAC LAPEL PIN: - become a member of STAC; - recruit 3 other paid members who

indicate you recruited them.

FOR A FREE TAKRAW BALL: - recruit 3 more paid members, or 6

altogether.

FOR A FREE TAKRAW VIDEO: - recruit 3 more paid members, or 9

altogether.

FOR A FREE TAKRAW T-SHIRT:- recruit 3 more paid members, or

12 altogether.

• FREE “@takrawcanada.com” Email address • FREE participation in STAC Takraw clinics & workshops • 10% off regular retail cost of any Takraw products • Eligible to compete in national/international tournaments • Insurance for all STAC affiliated Takraw programs/events • Network opportunities with other takraw players/clubs • Have a voice at national level (through local/regional org.)